Just

I love my prayer group. 

We laugh, cry and lean on one another.

We are a group of high school moms who gather once a week to pray for our kids, the school, the community and each other.

There's been a lot to pray about in the last two weeks.

While we were praying this morning, one of the ladies got a text from a friend asking for prayer because her son's school was on lockdown due to a threat. Her friend's son texted her that they'd moved a heavy cabinet in front of his classroom's door and he thought he was safe.

Thought he was safe?!

We immediately redirected our prayers.

We usually pray around a different attribute of God each week.

This week was "Just".

As in, God is just.

One who is right or fair, impartial, 

correct, true and upright.

In a climate where a teenage boy "thinks" he is safe locked in a classroom with a cabinet in front of the door,

where parents have to get panicked texts from kids huddled together in a classroom closet,

and some who don't 

because the worst has already happened,

it is hard to find the fairness 

or right of it all.

But we kept praying.

When we finished, one of our dear sweet friends pointed out that the word "Just" is the 'J' of Jesus and the 't' is the cross, with us in the middle.

I jumped up to write it down so I wouldn't forget.

God knows this is all too much for us to understand.

That's why He sent His son.

He sent him to die for us on the cross 

so we could be forgiven of our sins 

and have eternal life.

Jesus is for us.

He's with us.

And He is Just.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

"The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness."

Romans 3:23-26 MSG

* The teenage boy we prayed for is fine and a juvenile is in custody after the incident.